i865 clogged - Help please

[jackson]

Thank you.I will do it now.

You can use a separate bci-3ebk tank, fill it with 50/50 pigment and dye ink and use it any time you want. You don't need to wait untill all your pigmented ink runs out. Having one that is 100% pigmented and the other 50/50 you can use them alternately any way you want. Having one with mixed pigment and dye black ink in the printer keeps the print head from clogging. If a printer is not used for a few days the nozzles for the pigmented ink (3ebk) tends to dry out. It would need a cleaning cycle to clear and prime the nozzles. But having a 3ebk tank filled with some dye black ink in the printer solves this problem. I now have this tank in my printer all the time. Print all my soon to be in waste basket text with this ink tank. Swithch to a high quality pigmented ink tank only when I need to print something high quality. My print head is always free from clogging as a result. If your 3ebk channel is having some minor clogs using this mixed pigment and dye ink for a few days may actually clears it up for you.

 

[Metallo]

3ebk is pigmented ink which is by nature like to colog nozzles. Your nozzle check indicates it is still very minor. There is a trick for you to try. Take your 3ebk cartridge out and refill it with some black dye ink into it. Then try to print some texts with super sized characters. This forces ink to flow at a higer volume. Because the ink is dye now it may actually flushes the clogged nozzles after some printing. The nozzles for the 3ebk ink is of 5 pico liter size. Being larger it has a good chance to be flushed clean by using dye ink.

Hi,

Good idea, I will try this option first, before flushing windex.

Are there best settings to get 3ebk to print only, I mean, shall I use greyscale or doesn't matter?

Just out of curiosity, the other black tank (BCI-6BK) usually consumes much less ink, when is this tank mostly used ?

Thank you
Alex

 

[jackson]

The 6Bk is photo black.My (perhaps mistaken) perception is that when the paper type selected is "photo' or a variation thereof, then that is the tank used in the printout.
And when the paper type is plain paper, the pigment tank is used.
I read that while the pigment ink gives superior printouts and water fastness on plain paper text or plain paper mixed graphics, it tends not to adhere to photo paper as well as the photo black.
How that is the case puzzles me as non-Canon printers seem to have no problems using all pigment on photos.
Maybe we need a 'sticky' FAQ and myth-busters post comparing various brands and their foibles.

3ebk is pigmented ink which is by nature like to colog nozzles. Your nozzle check indicates it is still very minor. There is a trick for you to try. Take your 3ebk cartridge out and refill it with some black dye ink into it. Then try to print some texts with super sized characters. This forces ink to flow at a higer volume. Because the ink is dye now it may actually flushes the clogged nozzles after some printing. The nozzles for the 3ebk ink is of 5 pico liter size. Being larger it has a good chance to be flushed clean by using dye ink.

Hi,

Good idea, I will try this option first, before flushing windex.

Are there best settings to get 3ebk to print only, I mean, shall I use greyscale or doesn't matter?

Just out of curiosity, the other black tank (BCI-6BK) usually consumes much less ink, when is this tank mostly used ?

Thank you
Alex

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

Do you know which Canon printer uses dye black ink?

It will help me when going to the shop to buy it, if I do not mention printer model they will not know the difference between pigmented and dye ink!
I cannotfind this info myself.

Thanks guys.

Alex

 

[jackson]

If you go here you can enter in printer models and see the ink types used.
From that information, you can order up bulk ink or refills to suite your needs.

http://tinyurl.com/o3end

 

[Metallo]

If you go here you can enter in printer models and see the ink types used.
From that information, you can order up bulk ink or refills to suite your needs.

http://tinyurl.com/o3end

Jackson,

Great link, thank you... I bet you are German or not??

Alex

 

[jackson]

You are, perhaps, confusing me with the Pope.
We are both held in some esteem, he for his modest demeanor and infallible system of refilling his own ink tanks (never a clog and the warranty always extended) and I for my fondness for wearing a dress.
No, I am, a dour, Calvinist Scot...though many miles/Km and years, removed from stern Caledonia.

If you go here you can enter in printer models and see the ink types used.
From that information, you can order up bulk ink or refills to suite your needs.

http://tinyurl.com/o3end

Jackson,

Great link, thank you... I bet you are German or not??

Alex

 

[Tin Ho]

Just print with standard quality mode and select plain paper for the media type. No need to set to greyscale.

 

[Metallo]

OK guys, I tried something very stupid and lost any chance to recover my printhead.

So, I report here what I believe it is something new and hope it will help you to avoid the same mistake I did.

I went to a shop to buy some cleaning fluid to flush my printhead, which was slightly clogged on the 3eBK inlet.
The guy in the shop told me that he had the liquid, half a liter bottle, then I explained my problem and he said, well, what I usually do is to clean the printhead using this (on a table) ultrasonic machine, just put the printhead in it for a few secs and the clogs disappear. I was a bit surprised but decided to try.

The following morning I went to the shop with my printhead, I told the guy to avoid to dip the circuit, but at the same time, to keep it crosswise so that the inlets could stay in the liquid (I believe a special one for this kind of cleaning systems), so that the clog, which I was sure was there, could dissolve.
He did it, then I went home, dried the printhead, did two cleaning cycles, nozzlecheck and...s**t, the black was same as before, but the four colors completely gone, all violet.

It is pretty clear that either the liquid or the ultrasonic had a bad impact to the screens.

I re-washed the whole thing with distilled water, cleaned the ceramic, gasket etc. but too late, it's gone now.

I managed to find some information on that machine and discovered that it is used to clean jewellery.
The guy says that it is regularly used by many cartridge re-filler companies, most probably if used only with those cartridges that include the printhead it works, and probably it would have cleaned mine as well if the inlets had been kept out.

However, here's the link to the fateful machine:

http://www.waxco.es/cp104degas_80.jpg

Hope you can make treasure of this experience and avoid ultrasonic devices for our printheads!

If you have additional questions, please post them.

Cheers
Alex

 

[Craigg64]

HI Mettallo

Are you able to flush water through your ink inlets? This should remove all contaminates from each of the ink inlets. Just keep flushing until when blotting the print head on paper towl the print head leaves no ink marks.
To flush the ink inlets you can cut some plastic tubing and slide them over each of the inlets. Fill with water and then just wait a day or 2. Keep topping up the water until the print head runs clean.

I have used an ultrasonic cleaner a couple of times with no problem. Usually just used warm water with a few drop of washing up liquid. Also heard some others putting in a bit of isopropol alcohol into the water as well.


Hope this helps